READINGS:   Isaiah 60: 1-6   /   Psalm 72: 1-2. 7-8. 10-13   / Ephesians 3: 2. 5-6   /    MATTHEW 2: 1-12

HIS WORD… Magi from the East arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “WHERE IS THE NEWBORN KING OF THE JEWS? WE SAW HIS STAR AT ITS RISING AND HAVE COME TO DO HIM HOMAGE… THEY WERE OVERJOYED AT SEEING THE STAR… THEN THEY OPENED THEIR TREASURES AND OFFERED HIM GIFTS OF GOLD, FRANKINCENSE, AND MYRRH…

my words…There are three ways of ending the Christmas Season; either the “Traditional Way” by ending it with the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, or the “Liturgical Way” by ending it with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and the “Most Traditional Way” of ending the Christmas Season on the Feast of the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple, February 2. The first one among the three is usually the one used to remove our Christmas Decors and start fixing them up and returned to their boxes and placed them in our home bodegas or storages waiting for the next season to come… Hence the Liturgical Cycle in commemorating the mysteries of redemption in Jesus Christ.

“We saw His star at its rising…” (Mt 2:2b). These three were Eastern Astrologers, who were considered wise men in reading and interpreting the movements of the stars in the sky. And they saw the star of Jesus! – A comet shining brightly for the whole world’s gift of salvation. And they searched for Him and when they found Him, they were overjoyed and opened their treasure boxes and offered Him the gifts of GOLD, FRANKINCENSE, and MYRRH (Mt 2:9-11). As astrologers, their gifts to Jesus signify something of the future of the Child; and thus laid down the future life of the Child Jesus (as in our time, the “horoscope” of Jesus): GOLD – that this Child is going to be a KING; FRANKINCENSE – that this Child is going to be a PRIEST; and MYRRH – that this Child is going to be a PROPHET. Hence they portrayed the three-fold missions of Jesus in coming to the world as King, Priest, and Prophet symbolized by their gifts.

Brothers and Sisters, in our baptisms, we share the three-fold missions of Jesus. When after the pouring of the water on our heads pronouncing our Christian names, the priest anoints the crown of our heads with the Holy Chrism of salvation pronouncing, “God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has freed you from sin, given you a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and welcomed you into his holy people. He now anoints you with the chrism of salvation. As Christ was anointed PRIEST, PROPHET, and KING, so may you live always as members of his body, sharing everlasting life” (CollectioRituum: Rite of Baptism, 2009). Christian life therefore is to live and actualize the three-fold missions of Christ that He shared to us on the day we were baptized. We share His Kingly mission by our loving service to God and to one another; His Priestly mission by our prayers to God and for one another; and His Prophetic mission by our witnessing to the TRUTH and living it in our Christian lives.

On this day we say to one another: HAPPY THREE KINGS!!! May this greeting of the day remind us of our three-fold holy missions in life and live them joyfully glorifying God in our lives and in our holy missions.

HAPPY THREE KINGS… AND MAY GOD BLESS OUR MISSIONS IN LIFE… (By Fr. Julius C. Lupot)